Sister Pack's 1st Letter

Unfortunately, I don't have a ton of time today because it took off time for some reason???  However, my week was great! We got a new sister in our district, and I also got a calling in the zone.  I am now music coordinator.  I can't believe how much I have missed music, and it is my only escape when I am frustrated our feeling down.  Thank Heavenly Father every day for your talents because they are such a blessing!  Anyways, we are the oldest group in our zone insane right!?  But there are things that come with being the oldest like callings and other stuff.  Like having the menu for the cafeteria memorized our excitement beyond comparison for the BYU Creamery because it makes your week!  I have gained a little bit of weight, which was kind of expected but not much! only 3 pounds!  I am working out every day.  I'm known as the "girl on the bike" during our gym time because I pound it out on the bike. I rode 8.5 miles yesterday!  My goal is 15! depends on time though ://  Thanks dad for the love of biking!  It seriously makes me so happy!  Things I have realized since being a missionary is that people smile at you differently.. lol not to sure why but they do. Also we get food!! ALL THE TIME!  For example walking down from the temple today some Koreans just started handing us cookies! We didn't complain because it wasn't the cafeteria food for once! Wow I have talked a lot about food! lol I guess I will talk about food for the heart now. So this week I have learned so many lessons but the one that sticks out to me is Faith in Christ. I have had some rough days [like on our MWF Spanish only days where I just want to be driven to tears] Then I pray and put my faith in the Lord to get me through the last few hours of the day or a lesson. He is always there too. coolest. thing. ever. well that is all for today.  I love you guys and I am sending pictures home of our adventures [fire-drills] and of the district and my amazingly awesome comp! speaking about pics! I would love pictures of family and friends!!! My wall is pretty bare :// anyways that is it.  Love you all!  But Christ loves you more and all He wants is for you to trust Him and He will bless you soooo much. I am a walking testimony of that.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Love Hermana Pack

1 John 4:[all of it!!]

Elder Pack Transfers to Tlahualilo Municipality, Durango Mexico

Well my family and friends,,

 

i have left La Laguna and am now in Tlahualilo. my new companion is elder Rodriguez from mexico.  what city? i don't know yet. he has 1 year almost...how exciting i know haha.

 

so this rancho I'm in at least has Internet and apparently has a few places to buy food so i think we will be fine. he also tells me that we have a few people progressing and that we can most likely get a few baptisms.  this change is exciting.  i need to baptize or I'm not being very effective.

 

so this week me and elder Quackenbush learned to cook tortillas and how to make gorditas with the eggs and the frijoles con queso also chicharon prinsada. we also learned how to cook discada but i think i should have taken notes because i kinda forgot how to cook all of this haha. i am just hoping that one of these days i will be able to go cook some more with the members and learn how to cook some more things so that i can cook some stuff when i get home.

 

so I'm really happy to have gotten out of that other area because i didn't know what i could do to find success. this new area seems promising and I'm really happy that i have another opportunity to see another part of mexico. this little rancho is in durango and it is kind of small. but the cool thing is that we have a lot more little ranches that we can visit to find new people. so it's really going to be fun hitch-hiking to the other ranchos. this area is only a branch and doesn't have a church house just a prayer house. that's cool!!!!! i didn't even know that those were still around.

 

so something that i have been wanting to know is when did the word of wisdom stop being a word of advice and start being a commandment?? i still don't know that answer.

 

well I've got to go.  hope you all have a great week

 

love ELDER PACK

Tough Investigators - Sister Pack

So I am finally feeling old in the MTC. The advanced class that came in with us left this week, and I am halfway done with my stay at the MTC! Crazy how time flies when you are learning! So I will tell you guys about our investigators that we have [they are our teachers] Gedeon and Graciello. Half the time I don't understand what is coming out of their mouths but hey its a part of life. lol So Gedeon is SOOOO hard he literally drives me nuts!! He hasn't been keeping his commitments and so we are trying to find a way to help him keep his commitment. The spirit is strong in every lesson though and Hermano Tidwell can't deny that although Gedeon acts like he doesn't care lol. one time during our lesson with him he told us he would pray at the end. So we thought him how to pray and everything then at the end he said he would rather have us do it. I felt the spirit so strongly tell me "open your mouth" as I opened my mouth I said some profound things that seriously didn't come from me. The holy ghost spoke through me. One of the best moments this far. I did feel really bad afterward though cuz i think i scared him... lol. He is a tough investigator but I remind myself that at least here we don't have to work for our investigators lol.

 

Elder Scott came this week! and he talked about how to be a true disciple of Christ! soooo awesome!! seriously every time I hear a apostle bear their testimony there is no denying it. The best quote I heard from him all night was a contrite person is someone who follows the spirit no matter what. I am trying to be that contrite spirit! He also told the Elders to watch the sister missionaries because they could learn a lot from us. That was really nice of him. Well I know that I don't have a lot to say this week other than the food is starting to get to me and that its starting to get cold! I am running everyday with my companion ( who rocks!) especially at running and keeps me in shape! One thing that happened this week that was way cool is that we were reading the BOM as a district in espanol. I decided not to pull out my english scriptures and just try to translate from what I knew. I came to a verse that I understood completely it is when Nephi partakes of the fruit and tells us that he was desirable of all. I hope that we all can be like him and partake of the fruit daily because Christ suffered so we could have it all without end. The one thing that is cool about being a missionary is that when you teach simple truths you find so much joy in those simple joys (the fruit) and you want to share it with everyone you know. I love this work and know that it is of God.  I have felt many times as I teach Gedeon and other investigators. I know that Christ died for each of us and all we need to do is partake by repenting.

                                                 Love you all, Hermana Pack

Good Food in Mexico....Elder Pack

hello, my family!!!!!! and others that might be reading this,

well I'm glad that people are taking my advise and writing the poor sister missionary in the mtc.  it really helps a person from not going crazy in that small place.

so the weirdest thing just happened.  our mission just received dvd players... i see so many problems with this plan because our mission already suffers from missionaries not following a lot of rules. also the fact that we are in Mexico and Mexico is number 1 for pirated movies (from what i understand that is). sorry i know i didn't know how to spell well before the mission and now it is even worse hahaha. so from what i understand, all the missions in the world are getting them but who knows that could just be a rumor. it seems that the church trusts us missionaries a little to much.

this week we had interviews with the president. he was actually on time to the interviews this time (the last time he didn't show up until like 5 or 6 and they were to start at 3) so we were happy because it let us go to our late appointments which were the most important ones of the day. we keep talking to less active people and keep hearing the same thing. that they're not ready to come back and that they really don't have a reason for not going to church...their just being "lazy". i really don't believe that.  sometimes they just don't want to tell us what is the real problem. also sometimes we find out that they don't want to go back because they are going to another church and they don't feel like loosing all their friends from that church. i don't really like that response because it always leads us to telling them that if they don't come back to the only true church of God they will not see there Father again, and then they get mad. but i like the times when we talk to them, share a scripture, and they feel the need to come back to the church.  it's really the coolest.

so mom wants to know what we do on Sundays and what types of food i have eaten and also what i haven't liked.

so Sundays all we really get to do now is wake up, plan for the week, study, maybe pass by our investigators if we have any, be at church a little before 12, then maybe teach the gospel principles class if our mission leader didn't show up, then sometimes we may also teach the priesthood lesson if the elder's quorum teacher hasn't shown up, then after church we go the the sisters house to eat.  once we're done there, we go back to the house to change our suits and pick up the PMG for district meeting. our president changed everything to sunday for some reason it doesn't make 100% sense to me because sunday is a great day for preaching. oh so that is basically my sunday.

so some of the foods, well beans and tortillas are a given

but some foods i love green enchiladas, discada, gorditas, tacos de barbaqou (when they are not sold on tricycles, that's just to dangerous for me) also the carne (meat).

some that i don't know if i don't like but most won't like: tripas, and menudo, i haven't tried them but i don't think i will be liking them because i know what they are made of hahaha.

something cool that happened and really shows how important going to church is. this week some people broke into one of the churches here in Mexico and stole a lot of electric wiring 3000 dollars of it. so the stake called the area authority to ask what he should do and they said do everything possible to make sure that the church would be ready for Sunday meetings. so in one day the church fixed it all and it cost the church about 5000 dollars. it's crazy that the church would do that and also shows the importance of going to church. yet people here have all their really lame excuses on why they shouldn't or can't go to church.

also i forgot to mention that i have realized how important an education is from living here in Mexico. they drop out and start working in all sorts of low paying jobs thinking that that job will be fine for the rest of their lives. in my opinion it's not the smartest idea because they have a lot of problems because really no one here in Mexico is educated. also it makes me laugh that people complain about paying 500 dollars for college when in the states that would only pay for your books.

love you all and i hope that you all have a great week.

 love ELDER PACK

A Day In My Classroom - Sister Pack

Hi guys!

    So it's been another week in the MTC! Kind of crazy if you ask me. I feel like I am so old watching the "new kids on the block" come in on Wednesday.  My companion and I were outside for companionship study yesterday and watched all the missionaries come in. I thought to myself, did my face look that scared!? lol Anyways, the work is amazing, and it is so awesome to learn so much about Christ and his church. I am so grateful we had conference last week...it was amazing right!? My favorite was the guy who talked about teaching by the spirit instead of in front of the spirit or behind the spirit. ( he was the general Sunday school guy) any ways that is my two cents about conference.

    My weeks are pretty constant now that I am here. We go to class, sit in class, go to the cafeteria, sit in there, than back to the class room to study.  Luckily we have gym or I would seriously go crazy!!! So I decided today I would tell you about some things that happen in our class room so you get an aspect of my life.  At 7:00 am we start personal study which is always very quiet because we are still all asleep!!! Then we go to breakfast, come back, and we are all pretty ready for the day. We have been planning with our companions to teach our progressive investigators [our teachers] all in SPANISH!! We had to do this since the 3rd day.  Our progressive investigator "Gloria" thought Joseph smith ironed gold instead of received golden plates because we didn't use the right words! lol We have gotten a lot better, and I am able to testify of the priesthood and about how the church is right. Sometimes it can be hard though because the spirit is telling me to say something but I have no idea how to.  That is when being a foreign missionary is the hardest and you get down on your self. However we have an awesome district that helps pick you up. We are an interesting crowd. We have so much fun and are really loud... like you can hear us from the other side of the building, but we have many spiritual experiences together at the same time.

Some fun things we do are catch phrase/charades/ mumble game in Spanish. We also have the roca de verguerza [rock of shame] that is given to us when we speak English in front of the teachers. GUESS WHO GOT IT FIRST! ME!!! lol It was actually fun carrying a rock around to gym and lunch! lol We also watch Mormon messages at the end of every night before we go back to our rooms to help lighten our spirits. Mormon messages are truly inspired! We watched one that was very touching about Nie nie the girl who got in a plane crash and her face was burned.  I learned from her that no matter the circumstance, turn to Christ. Christ wants us close to him especially during times of trials. [the mtc] lol I know that as we all turn to Christ we all can be strengthened. That is what I teach every day, and I believe it with all my heart.

                                                                                                                                                                                                 " Fear not doubt not turn every thought to me." D&C

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       With Love, Hermana Pack

 

 

PS THANK YOU TO ALL THAT SEND ME DEAR ELDERS AND LETTERS IT LITERALLY MAKES MY DAY.

Elder Pack misses his bike!!

hello my family!!!! and my friends!!!!,

 

i hope that people are writing the misionera en la mtc, because she would love your support,  and it's fun receiving letters in the mtc.

 

also i think the lonely gringo in Mexico would like a letter or 2 because it gets lonely out here haha thank you. (¡¡¡¡dearelder even works for me!!!!!)

 

well this week was fun. we took splits and i went with elder perez. he is awesome to tell you the truth.  we had a fantastic time. But something i learned is that all the people i know that have played volleyball all these years haven't been playing it right. you are supposed to catch the ball pass it twice then throw it over the net.... haha it was funny to sit there watching some older ladies playing it and playing it wrong the entire time. was also funny to see some of the older ladies pull out some hat tricks to fool the other team hahaha. i also in this day found out how much i miss riding my bike. they ride bikes because their area is very big, and so i was able to borrow their bikes...it was fun. (but i miss my bike that didn't kill my butt because the seat is terrible, also my bike doesn't make me slouch to use and hurt my back.)

 

so this week i have been wondering how the Israelites, in the time before Christ's birth, had received the gift of the holy spirit if the higher priesthood had been taken away with Elijah the prophet. i still haven't figured that out yet and i want to know.

 

well family that's all.  i  love you all and hope that you all have a great week.

 

love ELDER PACK

Sister Pack's 1st Letter

So I am finally emailing you guys! crazy right!!!

Since mom and Dad dropped me off at the curb I have been hearing non stop Spanish from my sister "host" the one that shows you around to the teacher on the first day. When I first walked in and he was only speaking Spanish I was way worried because I thought they must have put me in advanced! I talked to the teacher and told him of the terrible mistake and that I should move down to beginning. My teacher in Spanish told me no because I understood too much and the speaking would come. That darn teacher!  I struggled through the first three days that felt like an eternity!! and through the first investigator; who spoke "no' English [who is our teacher]... I was seriously in tears quiet a few times but I made it through!!! and so grateful for that!  seriously if I have any suggestions for anyone...stick it out till Sunday. (when the eternity ends) and enjoy the rest because it goes by fast!!  I am surprised that my speaking ability has gotten so much better in this little bit of time! The lord really does bless you when you open your mouth for his cause. I can now say "Will you be baptized or I know that savior died for us and saved us through the atonement" however, I still can't say pass a napkin please lol. I figured that would come with time.

My first companion is Hermana Clark she is from Bountiful Utah. She and I could be no different in certain ways but so similar in others. I love her though! She keeps me grounded and I keep her crazy! lol She goes to BYU and is studying Wildlife conservation so every time we go outside she tells me about which plant is from what family. We have a great time!  Our district is small but so much fun! We have two elders and 4 hermanas. Our teacher must go crazy with us because we are all pretty giggly people [is that even a word?].  Any ways we finally had gym time and oh my goodness I could be no happier for gym! Being outside instead of in a small 10" room is glorious!! However we are now stuck inside because the weather has been bad!  It SNOWED! Yes you heard me right SNOWED! The outside field is closed, and I am very sad. I am also realizing I didn't really pack well enough for winter... which may be a problem.

Well I need to go unfortunately because time goes so fast when you have 30 minutes! Things that I love here is the spirit.  You can feel it when you are teaching the investigators or even when you are eating lunch. I know the gospel is of God, and His Son brought the plan out so we can all have a great life. He LOVES us so much that he bled for each of us. I am grateful for him to do that for me. I love you all.

                                                                                                                                                                                                               
Study his words share his gospel and endure to the end.  The New Hermana Pack

Loved Conference - Elder Pack

family and friends,

hello, i hope that everyone is doing just fine.

Mexico is sweet and no worries i haven't died yet. I'm hopping that everyone took my advice about writing the pour elder that is in Mexico torreon because I'm guessing he would really enjoy a letter haha.

how exciting for my mom and dad...they have their "twins" on the mission. i hope that people will also write the sister in the mtc because it gets lonely sometimes when you don't get letters.

i loved conference ( well for the parts that i understood 100% that is)

i love how there were 2 talks in conference that talked about letting people go on the mission and that a missionary doesn't need much...just be worthy, have a testimony of the BOM, and willing to work. i really was sad that our bishop didn't see those talks. ( who knows he could have been watching them at home in English or something). the reason i comment on this is because there is a kid wanting to go on the mission and the bishop just told him and us that he just isn't ready. so we asked him what he needed and he really didn't have an answer for us. so we asked him what a person needs to serve a mission and he really didn't answer us either. so i think we will just have to bring him the talks from conference that tells us exactly what a missionary needs.

this week was good.  we talked to a lot of people. the bad part is that not a lot of those people are investigators. a lot of them are less active people. we in this mission are trying to do 2 jobs re-activate people and also find people to get baptized into the church. the attendance is about 10% of the actual people baptized into the ward. so we are very busy trying to get people to just complete with there callings like going visiting teaching and stuff because that would help us as missionaries know that the people we find will stay active in the church and that is the biggest fear of missionaries. i hope that you all will complete with your callings and help the missionaries out with some names that they can go talk to. its a lot easier to work through missionaries because it helps us find the people ready for the message of the lord.

i hope that everyone is having a great week and that they will have a great week.

love from the missionary in Mexico

LOVE ELDER PACK